Category: Georgia

Trump may be physically alone, but he is far from being politically alone. He is solidly backed by the whole damn Republican Party. O.K., 80 to 90 percent of them. Plus, he has an overwhelming majority of Republican lap dogs supporting him in the United States Congress. Just about every one of those Congressional Republicans are cringing cowards who live in mortal fear they might offend Der Fuh–, uh–the president and thereby risk getting re-elected. The handful of sitting Republican dissidents will not be back in the new Congress.

Let it never be forgot. Donald Trump alone did not give us what we’ve got in Washington. What we are witnessing is how Republicans govern. It’s Republican government, full throttle.

The incompetence, chaos, and corruption is being brought to you by the Republican Party. And they have absolutely no shame about what they have wrought. On the contrary. The more unhinged and malevolent Trump becomes, the more Republicans rally to his support. They want to re-elect him, a position voiced loudly even by the supposedly “independent” Nikki Haley.

And that is all you need to know about Republicans. Most certainly, about Nikki Haley, the world’s most prominent female enabler of the misogynist, sexist Trump.

The Washington Post in a recent editorial posited that with Mattis’ departure as Secretary of Defense, Congress should be the last line of defense against Trump’s growing chaos, depredations, and unhinged behavior. IndieDems comment:

The Post is dead-on in concluding that Congressional Republicans are the only people who can put an end to the Trump disaster—which is sure to grow worse over the net two years if he’s left in power.

But in about two weeks, we can be even more specific. America’s fate will be in the hands of Republican Senators—Democrats in the House will be eager to do their duty and impeach the unfit, unhinged president. And so far, the Republicans who will control the Senate are proving themselves to be no different than the current feckless bunch of yahoos and cowards who more aggressively lick Trump’s feet the more outrageous he becomes.

Paul Ryan deserves note. Revisionist history usually takes a more favorable attitude toward some politician. My prediction: history will not only not be more forgiving of Ryan, it will judge him much more harshly. History will show Ryan to be one of the most contemptible people ever to hold high office, a hollow man and a world-class coward who betrayed his country on the altar of sucking up to the rich by fighting single-mindedly for more tax cuts for them—and the American people be damned.

But most of all, Ryan will be remembered for spending the last two years of his Speakership being nothing but a simpering lap dog for the worst president America ever had. That will be the capstone of his legacy. If Ryan is lucky, he will occupy a position in history about one rung above Joseph McCarthy and Spiro Agnew. More likely, he will be placed in the muck beside them.

(Editor’snote: Readers will note we are repeating this post but using different Georgia Republicans as the subject. Rather than lump them altogether, we figured each warranted individual attention on the occasion when they ended up at odds with former Secretary of Defense, General Jim Mattis, for their lap dog support for Trump’s disastrous foreign policies.)

Dear Senator Perdue,

I have chronicled the disservice you have done to your country and the desecration of your office by your lap-dog support for Donald Trump. You have supported Trump and his fellow Republicans’ wholesale assault on the Constitution, the rule of law, America’s basic moral and democratic values—and on common human decency. (See below for links to our prior postings)

You reached a new low when you stood by Trump in the 2018 elections, as he waged an overtly racist and xenophobic campaign, fueled by hate-mongering, fear-mongering, and race-baiting. David Perdue gave not a damn as Trump talked about Hispanic migrants the way Hitler talked about the Jews.

Of course, Senator Perdue, you have not bothered to respond to my criticism. But after all, I am only one of your constituents, and, to you, not a particularly important one, since I do not contribute to your campaign chest. Besides, I’m probably just one more Democrat/liberal/progressive unleashing standard fare against another noble Republican.

But overnight, we have been given a whole new standard by which to judge Trump-worshipping politicians like you. It was delivered by General Jim Mattis, in a letter he wrote on December 20 announcing his resignation as Secretary of Defense in protest of President Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria and Trump’s rejection of international alliances.

To put it as bluntly and succinctly as possible, Senator Perdue: General Mattis confirms everything I ever said about you.

The letter is a stunning rebuke of everything you and Donald Trump stand for—and a rousing affirmation of everything I, and the overwhelming majority of Americans, stand for. Let me quote from the New York Times report:

Mr. Mattis’ resignation letter was the sharpest, and most public, protest from inside the Trump administration over the president’s rejection of the alliances and relationships that have underpinned American security since the end of World War II.

…it condemned Mr. Trump’s approach to the world as destructive to American influence and power.

He said the core of American national interests lay in “providing effective leadership to our alliances,” and specifically described the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a defense alliance Mr. Trump has often derided. Mr. Mattis also praised the “Defeat ISIS” coalition that Mr. Trump just abandoned in Syria.

But Mr. Mattis’ core complaint was that Mr. Trump had lost sight of the importance of the competition for global power with Russia and China, who want “a world consistent with their authoritarian model.” (Read Jim Mattis’ Letter to Trump: Full Text)

In short, Senator Perdue, General Mattis looked at you and said “David Perdue has no clothes.” You stand nakedly revealed, Senator, as someone who has betrayed his country by your boot-licking support of Donald Trump. Exactly as I have been telling you for the past two years. And specifically noted in past postings on this blog:

David Perdue betrayed his country and besmirched and desecrated his office by supporting an incompetent, inept, ill-informed, narcissistic, racist, misogynist, bullying, congenital liar to be President of the United States.

Senator Perdue, you become more inscrutable by the minute. Since Mattis released his letter on three days ago, one United States Senator and Congressman after another has spoken or written in support of him. But David Perdue is once more nowhere to be seen or heard.

And God forbid, Senator Perdue, that you would seek some element of redemption by taking the only step a United States Senator can take to save America from Donald Trump: immediately announce your support for Trump to be impeached and removed from office as soon as possible.

Have you lost your moral conscience, Senator Perdue—or did you just never have one to begin with?

READ MORE:

December 20, 2018, was a watershed date in America for more than Mattis’ resignation:

President Trump and his Republican supporters* have become active enablers of a murderous attack Turkey is preparing against its minority Kurds. In fact, we now know that Trump decided to withdraw from Syria—and abandon our staunch Kurdish allies—after Turkish President Erdogan told him to get U.S. forces out of the way of the planned Turkish offensive. Erdogan delivered the order to Trump in a phone call on December 14—a call arranged by Secretary of State Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in order for Trump to tell Erdogan to back off.

This generation of Americans will live in infamy if it stands by and does nothing while the Kurds are brutally suppressed. The Kurds have been our main on-the-ground Muslim allies in the fight against ISIS. They have sacrificed more lives and expended more military resources in the past few years helping the United States against our enemies than Israel has spent in all its history. Abandoning the Kurds in the way Trump and the Republicans are doing is the same as if we suddenly turned our back on Israel.

The history of Kurds’ relations with the U.S. has been one of friendship and alliances followed by Washington’s betrayal. The Kurds were on our side in the war against Saddam Hussein—only to have the U.S. abandon them as they tried to work out a relationship with the post-Hussein Baghdad regimes in Baghdad.

The immorality of Trump’s betrayal is matched by the practical, permanent, and major damage it will do to long-term U.S. foreign relations worldwide. What country or group will ever again trust the United States? This dire consequence is what Mattis had in mind when he said in his letter:

“One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies.”

The Trump and Republicans’* betrayal of the Kurds is despicable. It is beneath the dignity of the United States. Contact your United States Senators and Congresspersons and tell them to force Trump to reverse his decision.

“To put it as bluntly and succinctly as possible, Senator Isakson: General Mattis confirms everything I ever said about you.”

Dear Senator Isakson,

I have chronicled the disservice you have done to your country and the desecration of your office by your lap-dog support for Donald Trump. You have supported Trump and his fellow Republicans’ wholesale assault on the Constitution, the rule of law, America’s basic moral and democratic values—and on common human decency.

You reached a new low when you stood by Trump in the 2018 elections, as he waged an overtly racist and xenophobic campaign, fueled by hate-mongering, fear-mongering, and race-baiting. Johnny Isakson gave not a damn as Trump talked about Hispanic migrants as Hitler talked about the Jews.
_______________________________________________________________/Looking Back

This blog provides details on my views that I will not duplicate here. Links to a few of my favorites:

Of course, Senator Isakson, you have not bothered to respond to my criticism. But after all, I am only one of your constituents, and, to you, not a particularly important one, since I do not contribute to your campaign chest. Besides, I’m probably just one more Democrat/liberal/progressive unleashing standard fare against another noble Republican.

But overnight, we have been given a whole new standard by which to judge Trump-worshipping politicians like you. It was delivered by General Jim Mattis, in a letter he wrote on December 20 announcing his resignation in protest of President Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria and Trump’s rejection of international alliances.

To put it as bluntly and succinctly as possible, Senator Isakson: General Mattis confirms everything I ever said about you.

The letter is a stunning rebuke of everything you and Donald Trump stand for—and a rousing affirmation of everything I, and the overwhelming majority of Americans, stand for. Let me quote from the New York Times report:

Mr. Mattis’s resignation letter was the sharpest, and most public, protest from inside the Trump administration over the president’s rejection of the alliances and relationships that have underpinned American security since the end of World War II.

…it condemned Mr. Trump’s approach to the world as destructive to American influence and power.

He said the core of American national interests lay in “providing effective leadership to our alliances,” and specifically described the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a defense alliance Mr. Trump has often derided. Mr. Mattis also praised the “Defeat ISIS” coalition that Mr. Trump just abandoned in Syria.

But Mr. Mattis’s core complaint was that Mr. Trump had lost sight of the importance of the competition for global power with Russia and China, who want “a world consistent with their authoritarian model.” (Read Jim Mattis’s Letter to Trump: Full Text)

In short, Senator Isakson, General Mattis looked at you and said “Johnny Isakson has no clothes.” You stand nakedly revealed, Senator Isakson, as someone who has betrayed his country by your boot-licking support of Donald Trump. Exactly as I have been telling you for the past two years. And specifically noted in two postings on this blog:

Johnny Isakson betrayed his country and besmirched and desecrated his office by supporting an incompetent, inept, ill-informed, narcissistic, racist, misogynist, bullying, congenital liar to be President of the United States.

Isakson, you become more incredulous by the minute. It’s 10:30 AM on December 21. In the hours since Mattis released his letter yesterday, one United States Senator and Congressman after another has spoken or written in support of him.

But Johnny Isakson is once more nowhere to be seen or heard.

And God forbid, Senator Isakson, that you would seek some element of redemption by taking the only step a United States Senator can take to save America from Donald Trump: immediately announce your support for Trump to be impeached and removed from office as soon as possible.

Have you lost your moral conscience, Senator Isakson—or did you just never have one to begin with?

Sincerely,
Tom Barksdale

READ MORE:

December 20, 2018, was a watershed date in America for more than Mattis’ resignation:

As our readers know, we are honoring our Georgia Republican politicians for their unstinting support for the Presidency of Donald Trump by substituting their names for Trump’s in media headlines. That conveys all you need to know about the Republicans, without the filter of IndieDems’ editorial perspective.

Johnny Isakson seems to have abandoned any concept of serving the interests of his constituents, beyond tapping the federal pork barrel to benefit whatever special interests feed from the federal trough. Isakson’s Republican Administration is in near total melt down as Trump’s criminality, chaos, ineptness, incompetence, and immorality produce their inevitable consequences. Trump and his Republicans are waging war against American democracy itself.

And where is Senator Johnny Isakson in all this? Nowhere to be seen nor heard, as he maintains his unwavering support for Trump as president. Below is just a selective choice of about two days worth of headlines on critical issues that Isakson has said not a word about. There is nothing on Isakson’s web page about any of this. Zero. Zilch. Of course, his web page also says nothing about Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, or Robert Mueller, either.

A report prepared for the Senate that provides the most sweeping analysis yet of Russia’s disinformation campaign around the 2016 election found the operation used every major social media platform to deliver words, images and videos tailored to voters’ interests to help elect President Trump — and worked even harder to support him while in office.

(IndieDems note: Trump and Isakson have done virtually nothing to punish Putin for his acts or to strengthen America’s defenses against Russia’s continuing onslaught).

The Dictionary of the American Underworld Lingo defines “rat” as someone who “secretly aids the police to apprehend criminals.” In other words, as someone who helps the good guys destroy the bad guys. Those good guys are the ones Donald Trump and Johnny Isakson don’t like.

“the future president and his siblings set up a phony business to pad the cost of nearly everything their father, the legendary builder Fred C. Trump, purchased for his buildings. The Trump children split that extra money. Padding the invoices had a secondary benefit for the Trumps, allowing them to inflate rent increases on their father’s rent-regulated apartments.”

And on and on it goes—along with Isakson’s near total dereliction of duty.

Georgia Republicans swim the deepest.

December 12, 2018 marked a watershed in United States politics. The sentencing of Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen for his role in providing hush money to buy the silence of Trump’s illicit paramours not only symbolized the craven nature of the Trump Administration, it unleashed a torrent of facts collected by federal investigators that showed Trump’s own criminal complicity and laid bare the wider gross corruption and immorality of his entire Administration.

Much of what has been revealed in legal filings and court proceedings in recent weeks involving the criminal cases against both Cohen and Paul Manafort was already publicly known, but the legal proceedings have given the facts the legitimacy of having been used in a federal courtroom to convict and sentence Cohen—with more to come when the already convicted Manafort appears for his sentencing. And all of that is only the tip of the iceberg toward which Trump is hurdling.

In short, December 12 showed the tipping point has come in the inevitable destruction of the Trump Presidency.

Our topic today is more narrowly focused. By now, any average person with an ounce of morality would be outraged by Trump and turn their backs on him. Not Republicans. They not only have not repudiated him, or beat a cowardly retreat. Acting according to form, in the wake of the revelations of Trump’s immoral and illegal acts, Republicans have rushed to defend Trump from Cohen.

Senator Hatch Lives Up to Role as GOP’s Senior Poster Boy for Hypocrisy

But Senator Hatch (R-UT) is the hands-down winner of Republican Hypocrite of the Week award, and in the running to win the year’s trophy. His apologia for Trump stands in stark contrast to his condemnation of Bill Clinton for committing the same acts in the Lewinski affair.

2018
Senator Hatch in an interview with CNN: “I don’t think (Trump) was involved in crimes, but even then, you know, you can make anything a crime under the current laws if you want to. You can blow it way out of proportion. You can do a lot of things.” When the interviewer noted that it was federal prosecutors and not Democrats who implicated Trump in a crime, Hatch said:
“Okay, but I don’t care. All I can say is he’s doing a good job as president.”

1999
Senator Hatch on Bill Clinton’s possible impeachment: “This great nation can tolerate a president who makes mistakes, but it cannot tolerate one who makes a mistake and then breaks the law to cover it up. Upholding our Constitution — a sacred document that Americans have fought and died for — is more important than any one person, including the president of the United States…committing crimes of moral turpitude such as perjury and obstruction of justice go to the heart of qualification for public office. These offenses (by Clinton) were committed by the chief executive of our country, the individual who swore to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.”

You can’t get more pathetic than Orrin Hatch. When Trump became President, IndieDems listed him among the four most prominent enablers of Trump’s deranged, depraved presidency: Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Orrin Hatch, Nikki Haley. Why Hatch? Because his politics, religiosity, and length of service make him the very epitome of what the Republican Party stands for.

He fervently supports the bedrock Republican platform of “socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor and middle class.”

His professed adherence to the Mormon faith is a thin disguise for his overwhelming hypocrisy, which has burst forth in ever more shining glory as he has sacrificed God’s 10 Commandments and Jesus’ Golden Rule on the altar of keeping Donald Trump in power to pass more tax cuts for the rich, while throwing the average American’s health care and welfare under the bus.

Either the Mormon Church has abandoned the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule, or Orrin Hatch has abandoned the Mormon Church. Got to be one or the other.

He is the longest-serving Republican United States Senator.

But it’s Hatch’s words in his CNN interview about Trump’s criminal and immoral acts that nailed him as the pluperfect poster boy for Trump’s morally and intellectually bankrupt Republican Party:

“I don’t care. All I can say is he’s doing a good job as president.”

Imagine. This supposedly God-fearing and Jesus-loving politician openly declares that morality and common human decency are meaningless to him in judging his president. All Hatch cares about is that Trump is doing a good job of making the rich richer. God’s laws and Jesus’ teachings be damned.

And those words, of course, are the literal mantra Republicans have chanted to apologize for Trump since the day he assumed office: we Republicans know as much as everyone about Trump’s congenital lying, vulgarity, bullying, slander, misogyny, racism, and xenophobia. We just don’t care.

But Hatch has announced he will not run for re-election this year, bringing his Senate career to an end. Who will take his place as the Senate poster boy for the morally and intellectually bankrupt Republican Party?

IndieDems’ nominee: Georgia’s own Senator Johnny Isakson. He fits the bill in every respect, except maybe for the length of service. But let’s not sweat the small stuff. Isakson’s Republican heart and soul is right there with Orrin Hatch’s—and Donald Trump’s.

Senator Johnny Isakson’s definition of good government:
“The Democrats (in Wisconsin) won the popular vote in State Assembly contests by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent but emerged with only 36 seats to the GOP’s 63.”

I had begun drafting the first of what is meant to be a series of posts highlighting Senator Isakson’s positions on major issues of the day, beginning with the Republicans’ flagrant anti-democratic moves in Wisconsin and Michigan (With Power Grabs in the Midwest, G.O.P. Risks a 2020 Backlash). Isakson’s endorsement of this assault on democracy and the rule of law is another indication of his willingness to sacrifice America’s basic moral and democratic values on the altar of keeping in power a Republican Party dedicated to keeping Trump as President and serving the interests of the rich and powerful.

I wanted to show that, as IndieDems predicted, Isakson’s two-year descent into Trump’s moral and intellectual sewer is bottomless.

Alas, E.J. Dionne, one of our major newspaper columnist, has scooped us by writing an analysis of the how the GOP’s actions in the Midwest are the latest in a pattern of Republican frontal assaults on democracy throughout America, and the dire consequences of their war. Dionne, of course, does not single out Isakson, but the Senator’s complicity is apparent for all to see.

Let me quote liberally from Dionne’s words that use facts and logic to describe the Republican Party’s threat to democracy and the rule of law. As you read, remember this: Georgia’s Senator Johnny Isakson finds all of this perfectly acceptable. I have occasionally inserted his name in parentheses to nail the point.

In case after case, Republicans (like Isakson) have demonstrated an eagerness to undercut democracy and tilt the rules of the game if doing so serves their ideological interests. The quiet coup by the GOP-controlled legislature in Wisconsin is designed to defy the voters’ wishes. It reflects an abandonment of the disciplines that self-government requires.

Republicans (like Isakson)are shifting power to the state legislature because radically gerrymandered district boundaries helped the GOP maintain their majorities in the state Senate and Assembly despite the Democrats’ performance at the top of the ticket.

Republican (Isakson’s) indifference to democratic norms is not confined to Wisconsin. Republicans in Michigan (which also replaced a Republican governor with a Democrat this year) are working on a similar effort.

Both states are borrowing from a playbook used by North Carolina Republicans to thwart the voters’ will after elections in 2016. And in states such as Florida and Utah, GOP legislators are also trying to dilute progressive referendum victories, according to the HuffPost.

The GOP’s (Isakson’s) anti-democratic impulse has far more in common with the old segregationist Democrats of the South than with the best Republican traditions that led to the rights-conferring 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.

The party’s (Isakson’s) efforts to lock in power regardless of election outcomes also eerily echo some of the behaviors of anti-democratic politicians abroad.

But most in the party are either complicit or silent. Is it any wonder, then, that most Republicans (like Isakson) are also willing to go right along with Trump?

Johnny Isakson’s sacrifice of any semblance of respect for the 10 Commandments, the Golden Rule, America’s basic moral and democratic values—and common human decency—on the altar of keeping Donald Trump as President desecrates his country and his duty, and insults his constituents.

Dissenting voices to that judgment? Let your response begin by noting that Trump recently invited Kanye West to the Oval Office, sat by approvingly as West used words like “motherfucker” and “shit”, and gave him a hug afterwards. Not a peep of rebuke from Isakson. How further into the Trump sewer can you go?

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson has remained a staunch advocate for the Presidency of Donald Trump through thick and thin. His support is unwavering even after recent court filings by Special Counsel Mueller and by the Southern District of New York that place the Trump Administration in deepening legal peril.. The Federal prosecutors revealed more details on the connections between Russia and Trump’s associates and implicated Trump more directly in some of the crimes admitted to by Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

No problem for Johnny Isakson. For him, Trump is still the president who is making America great again.

Now, Trump’s fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a TV interview on December 6 further defined the characteristics that Johnny Isakson finds acceptable in a president. Tillerson said that Trump is “pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read” and repeatedly attempted to do illegal things.

“So often, the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want to do, and here’s how I want to do it, and I would have to say to him, ‘Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law.’ ” (Is there a problem? says Johnny Isakson)

“What was challenging for me coming from the disciplined, highly process-oriented ExxonMobil corporation was to go to work for a man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, ‘This is what I believe.’ ” (Great President, says Johnny Isakson).

And Trump provided yet more insight into what Isakson looks for in a president with this Tweet responding to the Tillerson interview:

“Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!”

This was too much even for Pastor Bryant Wright of the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, GA. He retweeted Trump’s words with this comment:

“Pray for the President to repent of such childishness as this. This is disgraceful behavior for anyone.”